ADHD memes

All these ADHD memes have several times made me think if there's a light version?

But from what I understand everyone can experience ADHD "symptoms" from time to time, but people who are diagnosed with it have symptoms that are several orders of magnitude more intense.

When it comes to neurodivergences that aren't strictly universal negatives (for example: anyone would agree that DID is terrible, while modern autism advocacy strongly opposes any sort of "cure", and even assimilation as opposed to integration), you can easily find the case that they work great as complements within larger groups. Having an autistic dude fascinated by working materials may result in your tribe being the very first one in the area that gets obsidian spears or composite bows, even if he isn't a very good hunter otherwise.

The problem comes when an industrialized, profit-obsessed society attempts to standarize social customs, goods, living spaces and so on while individualizing responsibility for every aspect of your life despite plenty of its factors being outside any one person's control. Perhaps you'd have a lot to contribute to society if you just had certain unusual accommodations, such as a very quiet house or freedom to set your own working hours, but companies in the contemporary market economy hisses at people who don't fit like cogs in a machine, and having a house with very specific conditions is outside the reach of a lot of people. Perhaps you do even manage to find the means to become a very productive member of society despite the odds being stacked against you, but because the specificity of your situation means you barely have any negotiation power in the labor market, most of what you produce gets appropriated by someone who isn't very smart, but has some capital and better "people skills".

To an extent, it is also beneficial in today's society. Hyperfocus and fast context switching can be assets in some jobs, if the downsides are not too great and that can depend on the job and colleagues a lot.

But yea, I can imagine it has been more of an asset in a different time.

Absolutely, most parts of neurodivergence is evolved to be useful for "wild" humans, hunter-gatherers. Like gee i sure wonder how it might be useful for people living in tents in the wildnerness to have a dude who just cannot go to sleep before 2 in the morning..

Apprently court jesters were historically generally autistic people, whom the rulers kept around because they wouldn't sugarcoat stuff and acted like a bullshit detector. Might be pretty handy for a tribe to have some people who'll speak up when they think the leader is being dumb.

You're not alone in thinking that, and there are some studies which seem to agree.

There are certain aspects of ADHD that would be disordered in any societal structure.

I have been so hyperfixated on something that I have been completely oblivious to my own body's signals. As a result I have had accidents, developed UTIs, ended up in the ER with electrolyte imbalances, and dislocated several joints.

ADHD and joint Hypermobility are closely linked and while more studies are needed to understand exactly why and how, a lot of people with ADHD also meet criteria for Hypermobility spectrum disorders. In my case, I'll be focused on a task and I won't realise I'm clenching my jaw too firmly until the sudden sensation of undeniable pain sweeps over me and I realise my jaw has dislocated. Or ill be struggling with transitioning from a task to a rest, even though my knees are in agony, I can't seem to force myself to stop.

ADHD is also inherently linked to circadian rhythm disorders, and while yes, delayed sleep phase disorder is only truly a disorder if you're forcing yourself into a 9-5 lifestyle, ADHD sleep issues are more than just the shifting of the phases. A lot of people with ADHD will describe the sensation of sleep as being "passing out", because of the way our brains (fail to) regulate dopamine, the way serotonin and melatonin is secreted to create drowsiness is also impacted.

I don't get tired or sleepy, I get headaches and blurred vision and spasms in my back, and then I know that I can fall asleep if I lie down. I take sublingual melatonin tincture (I find it works better than tablets) and it's such a strange phenomenon because about 15 minutes after I take it I feel my eyes are heavy and my body is calm and my mind ia slower, aka, sleepy. I don't experience that without the help of supplements.

And sure there's the argument that you "people with ADHD used to be on night watch duty", but sleep deprived people make shit guards. If I'm not physically able to fall asleep until I'm "overtired", and if being tired makes my ADHD symptoms worse, then I'm no good for anything.

It's also not like hyperfixations are a super power (God I hate that way of framing things) I can't choose when or why they happen. If I could, I'd be good at just job, instead, I'm loosing all sensation in my feet because I'm stuck in a fixation trying to pick at the skin on my thighs because I spotted one single ingrown hair while I had my pants down sitting on the toilet. Now it's 40 minutes later, my alarm is going off in the other room, and I'm frozen, unable to transition away from this task.

ADHD is a spectrum, and for many people there are strengths, but it's most definitely a disorder and for a lot of people, even if we lived in the most utopian ADHD friendly society, there are still internal issues to face.

For the record, I am unmedicated and always have been due to a heart condition, so maybe my view on the condition would change if I had different treatment and management options available to me.

Thing is... you cant magically fix society with the snap of your fingers. And theres stuff you NEED to do that you dont want to even in a star trek style luxury space communist utopia. eg. I have to use reminders/timers to do things like take medication, drink water, chores etc. There isnt really a way to "fix" society so that that is no longer true. I have to take medication. I have to drink water. I have to wash my clothes and clean up after myself. Everyone does.

ADHD is probably akin to a tribe. One that arguably has its advantages like hyperfocus, creativity and sensitivity to emotions (empathy) but it is at the cost of a tremendous amount of inertia when it comes to doing stuff and executive dysfunction that requires you to compensate for.

I have no problem staying committed to a task when my life depends on it. For all other cases meh.

Welcome to the gang. The natural follow up question then is that if it indeed is weed then which is worse; the ADHD-like symptoms or living without weed.

I've heard about many ADHD'ers unknowingly treating their symptoms with weed. Weed is especially addictive for us because it helps us feel better. Atleast in my own case it allows me to have long uninterrupted trains of thought. Like instead of the same thought just looping around it actually starts moving forward logically.

Hahaha - this is my train of thought too! Didn’t smoke for the month of November as an experiment. Started dreaming vividly, but no improvement in my awake state.

I’m assuming a 1-month break probably wasn’t enough for my brain to re-build neural connections… but how long of a break is! Maybe I’ll try again?

How are you ‘figuring this out’?

This honestly is so validating to know that other ADHD havers are extreme self medicators. Blazeit.

Fucking hell sorry your parents were abusive monsters.

I feel like the more you understand how your brain works, the more you learn how to work around it.

Full disclosure: I'm not diagnosed, but on a waitlist for ADD - for over a year now and it's not moving, but I digress. I am diagnosed with autism though.

To me it feels like my brain is a wildwater. You can't control it, but if you change the environment around it, you can guide it into useful directions. I'm lucky that by now the people around me have accepted it and are able to laugh with me when I fuck up. We have a lot of systems in place to reign in the worst effects, and the more we get used to it the easier it gets not to fall into traps and not to be unreliable.

I guess I'm working on my skills as a mindbender who tricks my brain into being useful while still allowing it to get that dopamine?

I am 50. After reading a lot about the subject, I also suspect I am affected - my whole life. Getting an appointment with a psychiatrist to be sure right now. It would explain so much...

If it helps, ADHD has a heritability of 77-88% according to one study. That's on par with height.

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